D.C. is on Fire! (With Bad Feelings)

Ooh, smoke
billowing at 14th and I, NW, in D.C.! Maybe it’s all the hot
air being burned right now on Cabalist in
the wake of that story on up-and-coming journalist-and-blogger
Beltway Insiders, the one that had an all-male cast. Cabalist,
should you not be a manly Beltway Insider yourself, is the email
listserv
Journolist replacement, where the in-the-know politicos discuss
amongst themselves the weighty wonky workings of the world. (I’m
jealous! I want in!) Here’s a brief note to our wonky Cabalistic
boyfriends in D.C.: whenever a reporter calls, you always ask with
whom else he is speaking. And who his editor is. And what his brief
is. And you make yourself familiar with his work. And then you make
suggestions of who else he should talk to! That’s called “not
getting set up.” There’s no excuse for a reporter to be surprised
by another reporter! And it actually is the subject’s
responsibility to do that, and the subjects of stories often
actually do know in advance what the article is going to
say—because they ask questions. And what’s more, there’s plenty of
people who happily say “actually, please do not write about
‘how awesome’ I am.” Because it might not be good for them.

Still, in the end, none of this matters. Who knows better than
the folks that cover politics that there’s no difference between
negative and positive attention these days? Now go get me some
coffee, ladies.